Oregon Ducks at UCLA Bruins: First Half Thread

After last week's disappointing 30-28 loss to the Utah Utes, the UCLA Bruins have spent the last week preparing for the Oregon Ducks. I would say that Oregon has been the team that has most overwhelmed UCLA over the past few years (you could make the argument for Stanford, but the Ducks have basically blown out the Bruins 5 times in a row whereas the match-ups against the Cardinal have been competitive for the most part).

The Ducks aren't exactly flying high heading into this matchup, which just a week ago seemed destined to the the premier game of the week. Two 5-0 Pac-12 teams, both ranked in the top 10 with Heisman candidates at quarterback. While the Bruins were allowing 10 more sacks, the Ducks were doing a poor job of their own in failing to protect Marcus Mariota from the pass rush of the Arizona Wildcats (now, bizarrely, the Pac-12's only undefeated team and only team ranked in the top 10). Oregon would end up losing to the Wildcats for the 2nd year in a row, 31-24.

This is still an impressive matchup and if either team wins out, they are virtually guaranteed a spot in the College Football Playoff.

The game will be on Fox (with Gus Johnson!!!!) at 12:30 and broadcast on the local radio on AM 570, as always. You can follow the live stats here on the UCLA's Athletics football page.

As always, Go Bruins!